Automatic document feeder and automatic document feeding method

ABSTRACT

The automatic document feeder of the present invention includes a document feed tray for placing documents thereon, a document conveying device for conveying the documents from the document feed tray to a prescribed document image reading position, a remover provided in the conveying path of the document conveying device for removing staples binding the documents, and a separating device provided in the conveying path for separating the documents one by one after passing the remover position, and when documents are stapled with staples, the documents are separated one by one and conveyed to a prescribed reading position after removing the staples by cutting both of the upper ends of the staples.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder andan automatic document feeding method for automatically separatingdocuments that are stapled with staples and feeding separated documentsone by one to a document reading position.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] In the case of an automatic document feeder which automaticallysupplies documents one by one sequentially to a document readingposition of, for example, an image reading scanner, copiers, etc., it isa general practice to place documents that are separated one by one inadvance on a document feed tray and in the case of stapled documentsnormally requiring the reading operation, operator remove staples fromthe documents and supplies to the automatic document reading device.Therefore, if documents stapled with staples were erroneously suppliedon the document feed tray of an automatic document feeder, whenever asensing device for detecting staples detected that the documents werestapled, the automatic document feeding operation was suspended. Andafter stopping the automatic document feeding operation, operator isdemanded to once take out documents from the document feed tray andremove staples manually and then, place the documents again on thedocument feed tray, and restart the document feeding by restarting theautomatic document feeder. Thus, the automatic document feeder was sofar poor in the operability.

[0005] So, a technology that makes it enable to continuously feeddocuments one by one separately even when they are stapled with stapleswithout interrupting the document feeding operation by automaticallycutting the binding portions of them without stopping the automaticdocument feeder is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent PublicationNo. Hei 8-15927.

[0006] However, in the existing technology, because documents areseparated to each sheet by partially cutting the portion binding the,documents and the documents were damaged. And, to use the same documentsby stapling them again, it was necessary to staple the remaining uncutblank portion of the documents and thus, usability of the documents waslowered.

[0007] Therefore, it is desirable that an automatic document feeder iscapable of separating and conveying documents one by one to a prescribeddocument reading position without necessity for removing staples byoperator after stopping the automatic document feeding once documentsare placed on the document feed tray even if they were stapled withstaples.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to feed documents placedon the document feed tray, even if they were stapled with staples, to aprescribed document reading position by separating them one by one sheetwithout stopping the automatic document feeding operation and cuttingthe documents.

[0009] According to the embodiment of the present invention, anautomatic document feeder is provided, comprising: a document feed trayon which documents are placed; a document conveying device which conveysthe documents from the document feed tray to a prescribed document imagereading position; a remover provided in the conveying path of thedocument conveying device to remove a staple binding documents; and aseparation device provided in the document conveying path to separatethe documents passed the remover position one by one sheet.

[0010] Further, according to the present invention, there is provided anautomatic document feeding method comprising steps of: conveying adocument to a prescribed document image reading position from a documentfeed tray; sensing a staple binding documents during the step ofconveying the documents to a prescribed document image reading positionfrom the document feed tray; removing the staple when detecting thestaple; and separating the documents one by one before the documentsreach the document image reading position after removing the staple.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is a construction diagram roughly showing an automaticdocument feeder and a scanner unit of an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is a rough top view of the automatic document feeder in theembodiment of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a perspective view roughly showing a remover in theembodiment of the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 4 is a rough top view of a staple sensor and the removershowing their moving range in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 5 is a rough side view showing the remover in the embodimentof the present invention viewed from the arrow direction C in FIG. 3;

[0016]FIG. 6 is a rough top view of a cutter mechanism in the embodimentof the present invention:

[0017]FIG. 7 is an explanation diagram roughly showing the cutter in theready position in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 8 is an explanation diagram roughly showing the state of thestable that was fixed by a nipper mechanism 32 in the embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0019]FIG. 9 is an explanation diagram roughly showing the state of thecutter get between a stable and a document in the embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0020]FIG. 10 is a rough side view showing the state of the top of astaple that was cut by the cutter in the embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0021]FIG. 11 is a rough top view showing the state of the top of astaple that was cut by the cutter in the embodiment of the presentinvention; and

[0022]FIG. 12 is a rough side view showing the state of a document withthe ends of a staple removed by the nipper mechanism in the embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below indetail referring to attached drawings. FIG. 1 is a brief constructiondiagram showing a through read type automatic document feeder 10 that isan embodiment of the present invention for feeding a document G to acontact glass 12 which is a document reading position of an imagereading scanner 11. The automatic document feeder 10 is arranged tocover the contact glass 12 and a document table 13 on the top of thescanner 11 and can be opened/closed on the contact glass 12 and thedocument table 13.

[0024] As a document conveying device for conveying a document G on theconveying path from the document feed tray 14 to the contact glass 12,the automatic document feeder 10 has pick-up rollers 16 to take out adocument G in the arrow direction x from the document feed tray, aseparation roller pair 17 to separate documents G supplied by thepick-up rollers 16 one by one, a transmission roller pair 18, a readroller 21 to supply the documents G to the contact glass 12 by clampingthem together with an aligning roller 20, and guide plates 22 a, 22 b,22 c and 22 d.

[0025] Further, the automatic document feeder 10 has first and seconddischarge rollers 23 a, 23 b for discharging documents G in thedischarging direction by clamping them together with the read roller 21after passing the contact glass 12, and a discharge guide 26 and adischarge roller 27 for discharging the documents G on a discharge tray24. Further, there is a first gate 60 provided between the firstdischarge roller 23 a and the second discharge roller 23 b, anddocuments G are sorted to the second discharge roller 23 b side or areversing unit 61 side provided below the document discharge tray 24.The reversing unit 61 comprises a feed roller pair 62 and a guide plate63 for conveying the document G by clamping it. Further, at the positionof the second discharge roller 23 a, there is provided a second gate 66for sorting documents G to the document discharge tray 24 side or againto the aligning roller 20 side.

[0026] Between the document feed tray 14 and the separation rollers 17,there are provided a staple sensor 30 for detecting stables 28 and aremover 31 for removing the staples 28 stapling documents G whendocuments G placed on the document table 14 are stapled with staples.The staple sensor 30 magnetically detects the staples 28 that are madeof a magnetic material such as stainless steel, etc. The staple sensor30 and the remover 31 move within a 20 mm square range shown by thebroken line in FIG. 4 in the conveying path. The remover 31 stops at aposition where the staple sensor 30 detects the staples 28. Further, 25is a pressing guide to compress a document G against the contact glass12 and 29 is a stopper to control the position of the leading edge ofthe document G placed on the document feed tray 14.

[0027] Next, the remover 31 will be described below in detail. Theremover 31 has a nipper mechanism 32 that nips a chip 28 b of the staplethat staples the documents G and a cutter mechanism 33 that cuts off theupper portion 28 a of the staple 28 stapling the document G.

[0028] A second nipping portion 32 b is mounted on a first nippingportion 32 a of the nipper mechanism 32 so that it slid by a motor (notshown). The first nipping portion 32 a is provided movably to anevacuating position shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5 or on theconveying path shown by the solid line in FIG. 5 by a pair of first arms36 a, 36 b that are rotatably supported by first shafts 37 a, 37 b. Whenthe nipper mechanism 32 is provided in the conveying path, the secondnipping portion 32 b slides in the arrow direction q and nips the chip28 b of the staple 28 between the first and second nipping portions 32 aand 32 b.

[0029] The cutter mechanism 33, when arranged on the conveying path, isable to move to a standby position shown by the dotted line or betweenthe cutting positions shown by the solid line in FIG. 6 by a second arm40 that is movably supported by a second shaft 38. The cutter mechanism33 has a cutter 44 having a bisymmetrically inclined cutting edge 43.The cutter 44 is arranged movably to the standby position shown by thedotted line or between the ready positions where the bottom surface ofthe cutter 44 shown by the slid line in FIG. 5 contacts a document G bya pair of third arms 42 a, 42 b rotatably supported by third shafts 41a, 41 b that are formed on the second arm 40. At the mounting portion ofthe cutting edge 43 of the cutter 44, there is provided a magnet 46 forrecovering cut staples 28.

[0030] The scanner 11 is equipped with a CCD sensor 47 that has acontrol panel 47 a. The CCD sensor 47 reads an image that is projectedby an image reflecting light from a document G placed on the documenttable 13 or from a document G passing on the contact glass 12.

[0031] A light source 48 and the first mirror 50 are mounted on a firstcarriage 56, and the second and third mirrors 51, 52 are mounted on asecond carriage 57. The first and second carriages 56 and 57 arenormally positioned at the home positions shown by the solid line inFIG. 1 and reciprocate in the scanning direction shown by the arrow v inFIG. 1 along rails (not shown) if needed to read an image of a documentplaced on the document table 13.

[0032] Next, the operation will be described. When reading a document Gat the position of the contact glass 12 of the scanner 11, after placinga document G on the document feed tray 14 of the automatic documentfeeder 10, the document feeding is started by turning the print key (notshown) ON. Then, the staple sensor 30 moves from the home position intothe conveying path and detects the staple 28. When the staple sensor 30does not sense the staple 28, it recognizes that a document G is notstapled, the stopper 29 is released, the pick-up rollers 16 and theseparation rollers 27 are driven and a top sheet of the document G istaken out from the document feed tray 14.

[0033] On the other hand, when a document G is stapled by staples 28using a prescribed stapler (not shown) and the stable sensor 30 sensesthe staples 28, the remover 31 is moved from the evacuating position (A)shown by the dotted line to a staple 28 sensing position (B) in theconveying path shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 by a movingmechanism (not shown). While the staple sensor 30 is returned to thehome position from the sensing position. The remover 31 rotates thefirst arms 36 a, 36 b in the arrow direction r at the staple 28 sensingposition and moves the first nipping portion 32 a from the evacuationposition shown by the dotted line to the position to support the back ofthe document G in the conveying path shown by the solid line in FIG. 5.At the same time, the third arms 42 a, 42 b are rotated in the arrowdirection t, and the cutter 44 is moved to the ready position shown bythe solid line from the standby position shown by the dotted line inFIG. 5 to bring the bottom surface of the cutter 44 in contact with adocument G. At this time, when viewed from the above, the position ofthe cutter 44 to the document G is as shown in FIG. 7.

[0034] Then, in the nipper mechanism 32, the second nipping portion 32 bis slid in the arrow direction q to nip the staple chip 28 b of thestaple 28 between the first nipping portion 32 a and the second nippingportion 32 b and fix the staple 28 as shown in FIG. 8. When the secondarm 40 is rotated in the arrow direction s under this state, the cuttingedge 43 of the cutter 44 crawls between the staple 28 and the document Gas shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 9, and when the arm 40 is further rotated inthe arrow direction s, the cutting edge 43 cuts only both ends of theupper side portion 28 a of the staple 28 a as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG.11. The cut upper side portion 28 of the staple 28 is attracted by amagnet 46 and recovered.

[0035] Hereafter, the first arms 36 a, 36 b are rotated in the reversedirection to the arrow direction r, the nipper mechanism 32 is returnedto the evacuation position shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5 whilenipping the chip 28 b of the staple 28 and the chip 28 b of the staple28 is removed from the document G as shown in FIG. 12. Further, in thecutter 44, after returning the arm 40 to the ready position by rotatingit in the revere direction to the arrow direction s, the cutter 44 isreturned to the standby position shown by the dotted line shown in FIG.5 by rotating the third arms 42 a, 42 b in the direction reverse to thearrow direction t.

[0036] Then, the remover 31 is returned to the evacuation position (A)shown by the dotted line in FIG. 2 and in the nipper mechanism 32, thesecond nipping portion 32 b is slid in the direction reverse to thearrow direction q, the chip 28 b of the staple 28 is attracted to amagnetic recovery member (not shown) and the removing operation of thestaple 28 from the document G is completed.

[0037] Hereafter, the stopper 29 is released, a top sheet of thedocuments G with the staple 28 removed is taken out of the document feedtray 14 by driving the pick-up rollers 16 and the separation rollers 17and a paper is supplied to the position of the aligning roller 20 alongthe guide plates 22 a, 22 b, 22 c. The document G of which leading edgeis aligned by the aligning roller 20 is clamped by the aligning roller20 and the reading roller 21 and conveyed to the contact glass 12.

[0038] At this time, in the scanner 11, the first and second carriages56, 57 are at the home position below the contact glass 12 shown by thesolid line in FIG. 1. Then, when the documents G are conveyed by thealigning roller 20 and the reading roller 21 and are passing through thecontact glass 12 in order, the documents G are irradiated by the lightfrom the light source 48, the reflecting light from the documents G isformed in order on the CCD sensor 47 through the first through thirdmirrors 50, 51, 52 and the lens 53, and the image data of the documentsG are stored in a memory (not shown) and a document image is read.

[0039] Hereafter, the documents G passed the contact glass 12 are led tothe first discharge roller 23 a side and sorted in either the directionof the second discharge roller 23 b or a converting unit 61 by a firstgate 60. When the back is to be read, the document G is conveyed to theconverting unit 61 side and after the conveying direction is reversed inthe guide 63, the document G is conveyed to the second discharge roller23 b side by a feeding roller 62. Thereafter, the documents G are sortedin the direction of the aligning roller 20 by a second gate 66 andconveyed again to the contact glass 12 for reading the back.

[0040] On the other hand, when the back of document is not read, thedocument G passed the contact glass 12 is led between the first andsecond discharge rollers 23 a, 23 b, guided by the discharge de 26,discharged on the document discharge tray 24 by the discharge roller 27,and the image reading operation is completed.

[0041] Further, when reading an image by operator by supplying adocument G manually on the document table 13, after the automaticdocument feeder 10 is opened and a document G is placed on the documenttable 13 and then, the reading operation is started by turning the printkey ON. At this time, in the scanner 11, the first and second carriages56, 57 are slid to below the document table 13 from the home positionsso as to read the document G on the document table 13 and scans thedocument G by sliding in the arrow direction v as shown by the dottedline in FIG. 1.

[0042] During this period, the reflecting light from the document G bythe light source 48 is formed sequentially on the CCD sensor 47 via thefirst through third mirrors 50, 51, 52 and the lens 53, and the imagedata of the document G is recorded in a memory (not shown) and thedocument reading is carried out. After completing the reading of thedocument G, the first and second carriages 56, 57 are returned to thehome positions and the reading operation is completed.

[0043] In the construction as described above, even when documents Gstapled by staples 28 are set on the document feed tray 14, it ispossible to detect the staples 28, automatically cut and remove them bythe remover 31. Therefore, even when documents G stapled with thestaples 28 are set on the automatic document feeder 10, it is possibleto solve such a troublesome handling that the automatic document feeder10 is stopped, the documents are taken out and the staples 28 areremoved manually by operator. Furthermore, because the documents G arenot damaged by the staple 28 removing operation by the remover 31, it ispossible to staple the documents G again at the same positions using thestaples 28 without impeding the operability of the automatic documentfeeder 10.

[0044] Further, the present invention is not restricted to theembodiment described above but can be variously modified within thescope of the invention. For example, the automatic document feeder canbe in optional structure not being of through-read type but can be oftype to place documents on the document table, take out the documentsfrom the document table after completing the reading and discharge themto the discharge tray or of type having only the reading function of thethrough-read type to read documents during conveying them withoutequipped with a stationary document table for document reading.

[0045] Further, the staple sensor is also not restricted to a sensor formagnetically sensing but can be, for example, a sensor that sensesoscillation of a sensing roller, etc. that oscillates when passing anarea stapled with staples and senses presence of staples.

[0046] According to the present invention described above in detail,even when documents are stapled with staples, the documents are fedafter automatically removing staples and therefore, operator is notrequired to remove staples and operability is improved. Furthermore,because documents are not damaged when removing staples, the documentscan be stapled again in the same state by staples after completing thedocument feeding and thus, usability thereafter can be promoted.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic document feeder comprising: adocument feed tray on which documents are placed; a document conveyingdevice which conveys the documents from the document feed tray to aprescribed document image reading position; a remover provided in theconveying path of the document conveying device to remove a staplebinding documents; and a separation device provided in the documentconveying path to separate the documents passed the remover position oneby one sheet.
 2. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1,wherein the document conveying device has a staple sensor in theconveying path and the remover moves to the staple removing position inthe conveying path from an evacuation position when the staple sensordetects the staple.
 3. The automatic document feeder according to claim2, wherein the remover has a cutter which cuts and removes the staple.4. The automatic document feeder according to claim 3, wherein theremover has a nipper which nips a part of the staple when the cuttercuts the staple.
 5. The automatic document feeder according to claim 4,wherein the cutter is inserted between the staple and the document, cutsthe both upper sides of the staple and the nipper nips the chip end ofthe staple.
 6. The automatic document feeder according to claim 2,wherein the staple has magnetic characteristic and the staple sensor isa magnetic sensor.
 7. An automatic document feeding method comprisingthe steps of: conveying a document to a prescribed document imagereading position from a document feed tray; sensing a staple bindingdocuments during the step of conveying the documents to a prescribeddocument image reading position from the document feed tray; removingthe staple when detecting the staple; and separating the documents oneby one before the documents reach the document image reading positionafter removing the staple.
 8. The automatic document feeding methodaccording to claim 7, wherein the step of removing the staple isexecuted by cutting the staple.
 9. The automatic document feeding methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the staple is cut in the state with a partof the staple nipped.
 10. The automatic document feeding methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the staple is cut by inserting a cutterbetween the staple and the document and cutting the both upper ends ofthe staple, and after cutting the both upper ends of the staple, theends of the staple are pulled out with a nipper.
 11. The automaticdocument feeding method according to claim 7, wherein the staple hasmagnetic characteristic, the step of detecting the staple magneticallydetects the staple, and the step of removing the staple recovers thestaple magnetically after removing the staple.